ByMatthew ShaerFebruary 6, 2011

Battlefield 3, the latest entry in EA's popular first-person shooter franchise, is set to hit shelves in the fall of 2011, in plenty of time for the holiday shopping rush. That's the news this week from EA, which says that Battlefield 3 will be powered by "a powerful new game engine Frostbite 2," which allows for more realistic graphics and more destructible environments. So that's cool. Of course, the fall of 2011 might as well be a century away, so in the meantime, EA is releasing a Battlefield 3 trailer to get FPS fans all riled up.

The trailer is below. Hard to know what to make of it. The clip is certainly breathy and loud, and includes all sorts of explosions, as seen through night-vision goggles, or some sort of scope. And if you look closely enough, you can see tanks rolling and helicopters hovering and muzzle flashes galore. The trailer is definitely dramatic, but it's not exactly specific.

Over at the Battlefield 3 blog, EA reps write that the newest Battlefield game will get a full single-player campaign and a co-op campaign," along with 64-player matches – at least on the PC version – and the aforementioned Frostbite 2, "which you'll hear and see a lot of in the months leading up to launch." For EA, of course, the big question is whether Battlefield 3 can rack up the same sales numbers as the insanely profitableCall of Duty video game series.